Obviously, the United States — a nation of over 300 million people and only two major political parties — is vastly different from the Czech Republic, a nation of a little over 10 million with numerous viable political parties. But there are still lessons from the Czech election that apply to where our nation finds itself today.
Levitsky bluntly added that in his view, today’s GOP is less about policy prescriptions and more focused on “essentially preserving the identity of a White, Christian America.”
While Levitsky notes “there is no magic solution” to defeating an authoritarian movement, the forming of a politically diverse pro-democracy coalition is a good start. As the Harvard professor explained, “a lesson we’ve taken from other cases, particularly in Europe, is the need to form a broad, ‘small D’ democratic coalition that has to range from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to include democratic conservatives” to “as many Republicans as want to join.”
They explained that over 150 conservatives — including former governors, members of Congress and party leaders — have joined forces to defeat Trumpism by supporting Democrats who are taking on “Trump extremists.” These Republicans admit they will likely disagree with Democrats on policy issues but add that “we agree on something more foundational — democracy.”
They powerfully urged that, “in the battle for the soul of America’s political system, we cannot retreat to our ideological corners.”
They are right. We do need to form a pro-democracy coalition in the same way leaders in the Czech Republic were able to put aside political differences to defeat a right-wing, populist leader. The hope is my fellow progressives will also see the urgency to join forces with those whom we passionately disagree with on policy but passionately agree with on preserving democracy. The future of our nation depends on it.
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